Blood Sullied Hands
by Gothic Lust
Summary: After rescuing a woman from mutilating her hands, Kenshin finds he's bitten off a bit more than he can chew. With a cult kidnapping women and children, how will Kenshin keep those he cares about safe? Can he really keep his "no-kill" beliefs? ON HOLD!
1. Chapter 1

**Blood Sullied Hands**

By: Gothic Lust

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Inuyasha.

_**Y**ears have past since the 'Great War' and everyone now lived in peace. The Kingdoms all united into one territory under the keen senses of their lord. There was no poverty, or famine. All mouths were feed and minds kept sharp. This was the new era, a new age for Japan. Then it all came crashing down and scattered like rolling marbles when the lord past away. He left no sons to take over his throne or any daughter to wed. His one folly came back to haunt them. Another war spread. Woman and children alike died for the greed of men. The war then ceased and a new era was born. One were the weak were oppressed and the strong only wielded their swords in triumph. _

_Year passed and bloodshed was renewed. A revolution where the farmers stood and revolted against the military and the empire. Through this bloody time a child learned the art of killing but kept all innocence. He alone stood up for his beliefs for a new era where the oppressed were freed and justice prevailed. _

_He was known as the Battosai. A young man whose blade carved the way into the new era: the Meji era. His blood sullied hands were the only one that fought for them. The men and women he had killed still lingered on his conscience. He found only a sliver of hope in his repent for the dead. With his reversed-blade sword and an oath never to kill again he disappeared into the flamed nights of Kyoto where he turned up years later in Tokyo….._


	2. Chapter 2

**Blood Sullied Hands**

**By: Gothic Lust**

**Hey this is my first ever Rurouni Kenshin Fic so be nice on my okay. **

**The Pairing is NOT I REPEAT NOT KENSHIN/KAORU! The pairing will be shown next chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin though I wish I did. **

**T**he market bustled with excitement. Whispers were thrown amongst the shoppers. Kenshin didn't seem to pay any attention to this sort of thing. There has been no news of any rebellious groups in Tokyo nor were their any murders to account for. The gossip now fluttering on the wind must be of someone's' good luck or misfortune. He truly did not care for such small talk. What he needed were rice, salt, miso paste, and tofu. He sighed distastefully. Why do women buy things all at once? And it's always the heavy things!

The day grew short and the light dimmed as Kenshin made his way back to the dojo. As he walked past a dense forest he found the air permeated with a coppery sent. The sent of blood. Curious as to what was going on he crept in that direction. He somehow managed to do this ever so quietly while carrying his heavy burden. What he came upon what not what he wanted to see.

A woman around his age stood before a tree punching the bark with clenched fists. Blood poured from wounds on her knuckles and fingers. He could see where the flesh had been peeled away to show ivory bone. She did not seem to notice as she continued to beat the tree. Tears leaked from her eyes all the while repeating "Why?"

She wept harder and sunk towards the ground. Her battered hands lying limply at her side, forehead pressed against the tree. She sobbed and continued to cry out 'Why'. She sounded so broken, so lost. To him see looked like a child with no more relatives to turn too.

He placed down his heavy item and walked the small clearing to her shaking form. Just as his hand reached out to touch her shoulder and lend comfort a bloody fist struck out and landed square on the left cheek. "Oro!" he cried out as he hit the grassy floor.

Her breathing was heavy as if she had just sprinted a few good miles. The bloody hand she had used to punch him was now cradled with her left. Violet eyes met stormy blue. He could not stop looking into her eyes. He was drawn to her immediately and didn't know why. She was a mystery. But she sure did have one mean right hook.

She was the first to break away from the lock. Her eyes turned downcast and tears trailed down already moistened cheeks. Kenshin cleared his throat to gain her attention once more; she did not look up.

"I'm sorry…" Her voice was but a soft whisper, nearly unheard over the sound of rushing water from the near by river.

"Those wounds look quite painful. This one is sorry for startling you."

She looked up now. Hearing his speech her eyes immediately fell from his eyes to his sword and back. She gave a ghost of a smile, her eyes became blurry and her legs gave way. Kenshin rushed from his crouched position to her. He caught her gently in his arms. He watched sadly as her mutilated fingers twitched and how she would wince in pain. He new of only one thing to do with her; he needed to take her to the dojo and call for Dr. Gensai. He would have Sanosuke pick up the groceries once he got there.

With that he picked her up, startle by her light weight, and then carried on. His gaze trailed down to her slumbering face and smiled as he slowly made his way home.

**Hope you liked that…. For those reading my other stories I am sorry put I am going to stop _'In need of serious help with the title'_. I don't have any new ideas so I hope that you could help me out. **

**By the way this story is _NOT_ Kenshin/Kaoru….. The pairing will be shown next chapter. **

**Please review or I won't feel motivated to post any new chapters so please review. **

**Gothic Lust**


	3. Chapter 3

**Blood Sullied Hands**

**By: Gothic Lust**

**Hey this is my first ever Rurouni Kenshin Fic so be nice on my okay. **

**Sorry about the long wait. I decided to start this one up again… I've read it once more and said… Hey I want to read more, so I sympathized with all my readers and gave into one more chapter. I don't know how long this will go or how frequent I'll be able to update but I'll try. **

**But you can say for a fact I am going to continue this one, A Love's True Light and I'm currently working on a Kagome/Draco one-shot in the spirit of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie that is coming out on Tuesday, July 10****th**** at Midnight. I'm going to go see it. **

**I'm dressing up as Hermione. Don't worry I'll take some pictures and post them on Deviantart. I'll be placing the link on my bio for anyone who wants to see them. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin though I wish I did. **

**I**t's been a few days's since Kenshin brought the mysterious girl into the dojo. He remembered quite well how their first meeting went and how Kaoru took to the older girl immediately.

When Kenshin had pushed the doors open to the Dojo he knew Kaoru was expecting him to be carrying a load of heavy groceries not a girl with bloody hands sleeping soundly on his chest.

She immediately rushed to his side calling Megumi's name at the top of her lungs as she went. Placing a hand on the girls' forehead she checked for a temperature which she said was too high for it to be normal.

Megumi came running from inside the dojo, Sanosuke and Yahiko in tow. She took one look at the small girl in his arms and immediately told him to follow her, then turned to Yahiko and ordered him to get her medicine kit and some cool water.

Kenshin laid her down on a prepared futon just a few moments later. Kaoru, standing not too far away, rocked from foot to foot waiting desperately for something to do, some way to help. He knew that she always felt helpless in these kinds of situations- she never had gentle hands required for medicine.

"Kaoru please put a pot of water to boil." Megumi said as she raised her head to spare the girl one glance before returning to her work of analyzing the wound.

Kaoru took the chance she was given to help immediately and left as fast as her kimono would let her. Kenshin however was now the one sitting beside the injured girl with nothing to do with his hands.

"Will she be okay there missy?" Sanosuke asked from the doorway. His right hand braced himself on the frame while his other rested at his hip.

"She'll be fine, but she's running a high fever and she may be left with scars on her hands." Megumi did not look up from her inspection. She turned the girls' hands gently to get a better look at the sides.

"How could she have done this to herself?" She paused and looked up at Kenshin. "What was she hitting when you found her?"

Kenshin sighed and told her how he found her beating her hands against the bark of a tree. It was then he remembered the groceries he dropped in the clearing.

"Sano, may I ask you a favor?"

Sanosuke looked up, his attention previously trained on the girls face and hands.

"What can I do?"

"Can you gather the groceries from the clearing I mentioned earlier, I'm afraid this one left them in his haste to get her here?"

Sanosuke sighed, turned on his heals so the 'bad' sign on his back faced Kenshin, he then gave him a thumbs up with his right hand and left just as Yahiko rushed in with the medicine kit and water tub Megumi asked for.

It took the girl two days to awake and one more to break the fever. Megumi and Kaoru took shifts watching her the entire night hoping that things wouldn't turn from bad to worse. Sadly in the time that she was awake none of them managed to get any information out of her such as her name or where she lived.

Kenshin now sat cross-legged against the beam outsider her door, his reverse-blade sword resting firmly on his shoulder. One questioned plagued his mind. The one word she spoke as she pounded the tree with her tiny fists. It was the only thing he did not mention to the group as he told the tale of how he came across her.

'_Why?'_

He clutched his reverse-blade sword tighter. Her eyes swam before his, liquid pools of cloudy silver sapphire. He knew he saw into her soul in that very moment and the story he uncovered haunted him. It answered some of the mystery to her word but it opened many more.

He wanted to know her and why her pain was causing her to destroy herself.

**Sorry again for the long wait. I'm taking this off HIATUS but that doesn't mean that I'll be able to post every so often. I got homework for over the summer and it's not just reading two books. Plus I've got this whole other story I've committed myself to and the seventh book of the Harry Potter series is coming out soon and I've placed that at the top of my priority list. **

**Sorry, I also promised that I would reveal her name today but I didn't. This time for sure for sure, the next chapter will name the girl. **

**I promise that. **

**I hope you liked the chapter; it was longer than the other one. I didn't tell you this was going to be a long fic, just a good one. So please review and be patient with me. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Blood Sullied Hands**

**By: Gothic Lust**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**Chapter 4:**

Kenshin awoke the next morning to a silent house. He rolled off his futon and dressed quickly, stacking everything in its appropriate place before grabbing his sword and exiting his room.

He walked down the hall towards the room their mysterious house guest was staying. The shoji door that divided the entrance of the room to the hallway was open, the futon in the middle of the room in disarray as the occupant no longer slumbered within its sheets. Kenshin narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment what this meant.

The dojo was too silent for this time in the morning, dawn hadn't even broken over the horizon and their guest was gone. The usual snores of Yahiko were misplaced, and Kaoru was not sitting at the side of the young woman's now empty bedding, caring for her as she slept her illness away.

Fearing the worst Kenshin ran to the room that Kaoru and Yahiko shared. He opened the screen with such force that it came off the track. Within this room as well were no occupants. The bed rolls were disturbed and a thick metallic scent hung in the air. It was a recognizable stench that Kenshin was all too familiar with. It was the scent of blood.

He entered the room and over turned the futons, searching for the source of the smell. Underneath Kaoru's bedding was a small smear of blood. He took off quickly, passing the front doors of the dojo and turning sharply to the left. He made a fast pace to the row house district where Sanosuke spent his nights.

Once within sight, he picked up his pace, seeing the lights to Sanosuke's part of the row off and silent. Kenshin called out his friends name as he entered, spotting Sanosuke in the corner, snoring loudly and clutching a large gourd of cheap sake. Kenshin called his name once more, pulling the thin covers off his friend to expose a nude chest to the chilly winds of the night.

Sanosuke mumbled something unintelligible and turned over to his side, searching with his right hand for the missing covers. Kenshin pulled him from the futon, the gourd falling from the man's grasp and shattering on the floor. The sound didn't rouse his friend at all; he simply slept as he shook him.

"Sanosuke, wake up." Kenshin yelled before punching his friend hard in the cheek.

Sanosuke sputtered and fell backwards. His left hand flew out and grasped the collar of Kenshin's top and swung his own punch towards the red headed man. He dodged expertly and landed another hard blow to the half-awake young man.

He fell back once again, this time he was coughing loudly and turned to his right side and coughed some more, clutching his stomach before lifting himself from the old futon to aim at his attacker once more. Kenshin dodged the second attempt and grabbed Sanosuke's arm.

"Sano, wake up—Kaoru-dono and Yahiko are gone, and the woman is missing as well. They all very well may be in danger."

Sano sputtered again and fell to the ground. "Kenshin?" He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. As the sleepiness departed from his systems, Kenshin's words entered, registering within his mind.

"What did you say?" Sano stood quickly, towering over the small swordsman.

"This one woke not long ago to find them missing and that's not all," Kenshin paused for a moment tossing Sanosuke his shirt. "One of them is injured. This one found blood beneath Kaoru-dono's futon."

"They must be quite skilled to kidnap the missy, Yahiko and the other woman from you without alerting your senses."

"This one is worried that the kidnappers are more skilled then we may anticipate."

"Don't worry so much Kenshin; I'm sure that they are okay. Now let's go search for them. Any idea's where they could be?"

"This one has one doesn't know. We may need to enlist the help of old allies."

"I am not pairing up with that…"

"We may have no choice." Kenshin then took off out of the room, not allowing for Sanosuke to voice anymore complaints. The time was running down and he didn't wish to waste any more.

They made fast time to gather their next ally, though convincing him would take some time that they did not have. Dawn had broken as Kenshin struggled to wake Sanosuke from his deep slumber and now time was not something they could afford to waste. They entered the large station quickly, passing men shouting for them to stop. They made a few turns to an office at the end of the hall. The room inside was rather dark for the early morning hours. Maps, papers and old books were thrown haphazardly across the table that man was sitting at smoking a cigarette, search through the information quickly.

He looked up at the two that just entered and took a long drag from the cigarette before putting it out in a small ash tray on his cluttered desk. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this early visit, Battousai?"

"This one needs your help Saito." Kenshin put it quite bluntly and he heard Sanosuke snort from behind him.

"Oh, and to what are my services so greatly demanded for?" Saito narrowed his eyes and stood from the chair behind his desk, pushing the pile of papers on his desk forward a bit. He stood tall and proud, awaiting for what the once assassin wished of him so he could tell him no, before gladly throwing him and the punk out of his office. "What ever it is, I have no time to play hero. There is a case that demands my attention, now if you will…"

"Saito, there has been a kidnapping." Saito looked up at them sharply. "Kaoru-dono, Yahiko-kun and a young woman that was taking shelter at the dojo were kidnapped last night."

"Right below your very nose, am I right Battousai? Have your skills so greatly decreased after the battle with Shishio?" He rounded the desk, bringing with him a pile of papers he was sifting through. He pulled out a sheet and handed it to Kenshin.

"Would there happen to have been any blood?"

"Hai, it was…"

"Below one of the woman's bedding was it not?"

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "Hai. Have there been any more cases like this Saito?"

"Wait a minute, are you telling me we're dealing with a series of kidnappings?" Sanosuke shouted from his reclined position against the door frame.

"He must have gained a brain over the last year." Saito said rather calmly, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He took a small drag and let the smoke out from his mouth. "There have been a series of kidnappings, all virgin women and young male children."

Kenshin and Sanosuke stared wide eyed at the news.

"So we're…" Sanosuke began.

"Dealing with a cult." Kenshin finished. His eyes narrowed, a gold glint forming over his once violet eyes.

"Hai, and with their three new victims, they're only missing one more." Saito grabbed an old leather bound book from his desk and flipped through the pages and handed it to Kenshin. "They're planning on becoming the demons of myth. They're missing a woman, a priestess with spiritual power."

"Don't tell me you believe in all of this hocus-pocus stuff. Where the hell are they going to find a priestess?" Sanosuke nearly cringed with the thought of magic actually put into practice.

"This one doesn't believe they need to find a priestess per say, but a woman of pure heart and body."

"Than that would eliminate the little missy and fox lady, those two are so selfish." Just as those words left his mouth, both stopped breathing.

"Megumi-dono!" Kenshin took out of the room following Sanosuke as they exited the police station. Saito was right behind them.

"How could you possibly think that conniving woman is the priestess they need?" Saito asked the running pair in front of him.

Kenshin turned his head back to answer him. "It is not that she is the priestess they need, but at times she is quite selfless. This one believes that it that they would believe her to be their priestess. Doctors normally are selfless in their actions and it would be understandable for them to think her so."

Saito nodded and sped up his pace, easily falling into step with Kenshin as they rounded another street towards Dr. Gensai's clinic.

**I hope you liked this chapter. I know I'm sorry for not updating, but I normally get caught up in so many things. I plan to update this one again soon, so please read and review. **

**Gothic Lust**


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